fiction
Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays: Kate Daniels, now mated to the Beast Lord of Atlanta, is struggling to make her independent detective/magic agency work, and so she takes a client with a big problem, along with hiring a new employee with troubles of her own. Meanwhile, something seems to be eating magic, creating trouble from trolls to vampires. Also, Kate has to figure out if her mate only wanted her for her blood magic. I enjoyed it a lot; not too much relationship stuff, but what there was fit a lot better than “happily ever after.”
Holly Black, Red Glove: Cassel Sharpe is back in school, but his situation is no better: Lila, the girl he loves who was cursed to love him back enrolls to be near him; he just spent the summer running cons with his mother; and then family tragedy strikes, bringing with it new threats to his own health, both from the crime families and the Feds. Cassel is a good teen hero, trying hard to do the right thing while still wanting the rest of the world to leave him alone-not least the politics that threaten the freedom and perhaps the survival of curse workers as a whole.
Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn: The Final Empire: I read a hilarious negative review of another of Sanderson’s books, but a friend of mine who shares many of my tastes convinced me to give this series a try, and I enjoyed it a lot (though I might still skip Elantris). In a world covered by night by dangerous Mist and by day by near constant ashfall, most people are slaves (skaa) brutally exploited by nobles, some of whom have the power of Allomancy. They can consume certain metals, and use them to perform various mental and physical feats. Each metal/alloy is associated with certain powers; those who can use all the known metals are known as Mistborn. Because some of the powers involve moving metal outside the body, fighting a Mistborn requires special tactics, leading to scenes reminiscent of figuring out how to do unexpected things in videogames. Anyway, the known world is ruled by a vicious tyrant, and the protagonists are rebels: Kelsier, who survived the tyrant’s mines when his wife didn’t and seeks revenge against all nobles, and Vin, an abused young girl who turns out to be a Mistborn. There are annoying excerpts from a long-ago history that begin every chapter, but the history isn’t exactly what it seems, and it’s pretty clear that defeating the tyrant might only be the first of the characters’ problems.
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.
Holly Black, Red Glove: Cassel Sharpe is back in school, but his situation is no better: Lila, the girl he loves who was cursed to love him back enrolls to be near him; he just spent the summer running cons with his mother; and then family tragedy strikes, bringing with it new threats to his own health, both from the crime families and the Feds. Cassel is a good teen hero, trying hard to do the right thing while still wanting the rest of the world to leave him alone-not least the politics that threaten the freedom and perhaps the survival of curse workers as a whole.
Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn: The Final Empire: I read a hilarious negative review of another of Sanderson’s books, but a friend of mine who shares many of my tastes convinced me to give this series a try, and I enjoyed it a lot (though I might still skip Elantris). In a world covered by night by dangerous Mist and by day by near constant ashfall, most people are slaves (skaa) brutally exploited by nobles, some of whom have the power of Allomancy. They can consume certain metals, and use them to perform various mental and physical feats. Each metal/alloy is associated with certain powers; those who can use all the known metals are known as Mistborn. Because some of the powers involve moving metal outside the body, fighting a Mistborn requires special tactics, leading to scenes reminiscent of figuring out how to do unexpected things in videogames. Anyway, the known world is ruled by a vicious tyrant, and the protagonists are rebels: Kelsier, who survived the tyrant’s mines when his wife didn’t and seeks revenge against all nobles, and Vin, an abused young girl who turns out to be a Mistborn. There are annoying excerpts from a long-ago history that begin every chapter, but the history isn’t exactly what it seems, and it’s pretty clear that defeating the tyrant might only be the first of the characters’ problems.
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.